Now in its fifth edition, The Origins of the Second World War explores the reasons why the Second World War broke out in September 1939 and why a European conflict developed into a war that spanned the globe.
This book argues that the global conflict was not just ‘Hitler’s War’ but one that had its roots and origins in the decline of the old empires of Britain and France and the rise of ambitious new powers in Germany, Italy and Japan who wanted large empires of their own. Richard Overy covers the origins of the war from its background in the First World War to its expansion to embrace the Soviet Union, Japan and the United States by the end of 1941. Creating a comprehensive and analytical narrative while remaining a succinct overview of the subject, this book takes a thematic approach to the complex range of events that culminated in global warfare, discussing factors such as economic rivalry, rearmament and domestic politics and emphasizing that any explanation of the outbreak of hostilities must be global in scope. This new edition includes more discussion of the role of empire and the imperial background to the war.
Containing several new primary source documents alongside a glossary, a chronology of key events and a who’s who of important figures, this bookis an invaluable introduction for any student of this fascinating period in history.
Author(s): Richard Overy
Series: Seminar Studies
Edition: 5
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 184
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series
Title
Copyright
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
List of maps
Preface
Chronology
Who’s who
Part I Background
1 Explaining the Second World War
Part II Analysis
2 The international crisis
3 Economic and imperial rivalry
4 Armaments and domestic politics
5 War over Poland
6 From European to world war
Part III Assessment
7 Hitler’s war?
Part IV Documents
1 The Treaty of Versailles and Germany
2 The Covenant of the League
3 The search for a settlement
4 American ‘appeasement’
5 Stalin anticipates war
6 The ‘Hossbach memorandum’
7 Preparation for war before Munich
8 The Munich Conference
9 The Munich Agreement
10 Imperialism and war
11 Economic pressure on Japan
12 Mussolini’s vision of empire
13 Hitler’s ‘Second Book’: Lebensraum and the Jews
14 Economic appeasement
15 The Four-Year Plan
16 Economic dangers for Britain
17 The crisis in France
18 ‘Peace for our time’
19 The change of mood in the west
20 Hitler plans to crush Poland
21 Chamberlain guarantees Poland
22 The Franco-British ‘war plan’, 1939
23 British intelligence on Germany
24 Stalin warns the west after Munich
25 The Franco-British failure in Moscow
26 The Soviet reaction to German advances, 1939
27 The German-Soviet Pact
28 Britain’s probable attitude
29 Hitler gambles on western weakness
30 Bonnet’s doubts about war
31 Poland in the middle
32 The last days of peace
33 Chamberlain’s ‘awful Sunday’
34 Berlin proposes peace
35 A British demand for peace
36 The Three-Power Pact
37 ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ fireside chat
38 The Barbarossa Directive
39 The German attack on Russia
40 Russia raises the price for co-operation
41 Japan decides on war
42 Creating the new world order
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
